Current FDA rules allow multiple species of fish to be sold under the same name, a practice critics say is abetting seafood fraud. Here a Maldivian fisherman sorts his catch in Male.Credit Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Backed by Big Food, the House has passed a bill that prevents states from mandating GMO labels on food packaging. (Whatever happened to Republicans’ love of states’ rights?) But it turns out the fight may not be worth the effort: GMO labels don’t actually scare people away from buying the product. In some cases they even increase support for genetic modification.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s school lunch standards have increased access to healthy meals in racially diverse schools, in many places eliminating the nutrition gap between diverse and predominantly white schools.

Hundreds of thousands of olive trees in Italy are being decimated by a bacterial disease known as olive tree leprosy.

Under current FDA policies, 64 different species of fish can be sold in fish markets and restaurants under the name “grouper”; for a “snapper” it’s 56. While you might not care whether you’re eating a Pacific creolefish or a Hapuka (both sold as “sea bass”), an ocean conservation group says the jumbling of names is abetting illegal fishing and seafood fraud.

“We are seeing the emergence of the next generation of the food distribution system.” Takeout delivery by drones? No: drive-thru grocery stores built by — who else? — Amazon.

The governors of Maryland and Virginia are in a highly publicized tiff over which state gets to claim the famous “Maryland blue crab” as its own. The debate has uncovered some very interesting facts about crab behavior, but it’s also proved that neither man is above making truly terrible puns.

A horse watches over the historic site of Fort Phil Kearny in Banner, Wyoming.Credit Anne Sherwood for The New York Times

Agricultural lobbyists in Washington are gearing up for a major battle – this time, with each other. (You gotta love that.) Departing from decades of traditional unity, Big Corn is investing heavily in an attack on Big Sugar, hoping to unwind a lucrative package of subsidies that’s among the most generous in U.S. agriculture.

A Wyoming rancher lays out five common-sense reasons why farmers and ranchers should get ahead of regulators and start making their operations ecologically sustainable now. Really great.

Employing Orwellian “doublespeak,” the Texas Department of Agriculture issued a press release that simultaneously touted its efforts to combat child obesity while also lifting a decade-old ban on deep fat fryers in public schools. Because nothing slims a child’s waist faster than a helping of French fries.

What-a-shock department: If done properly, intermittent fasting can benefit your waistline and reduce levels of molecules associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Though fair warning: it will probably also make you very hangry.

A New York City regulator accused Whole Foods of routinely overcharging customers for pre-packaged food by overstating the products’ weight – “the worst case of mislabeling” investigators had seen in their careers.

Most areas of the United States could supply 80-100 percent of their populations with food grown or raised within 50 miles. This, of course, was the case from the dawn of agriculture until maybe 75 years ago, and still is around much of the world.

Companies can predict whether a new product is likely to flop based on a surprising metric: positive feedback from consumers who bought — and loved — products that failed in the past. (One study calls these customers “harbingers of failure.”)

A high-sugar diet not only hurts your figure (not to mention your teeth), it also appears to make your brain less adaptive to change.

“Theoretically, China has strict food safety regulations, but execution is often the problem.” Talk about an understatement: 100,000 tons of smuggled frozen meat was seized by authorities, some of it more than 40 years old.

A new report out by Food and Water Watch reveals a striking paradox for today’s food movement. At the same time that organic, sustainable food and its advocates have spread across the country, factory farming has exploded. Two pieces from writers on the so-called left and, interestingly, the so-called right (this is a terrific piece), grapple with what this means for the food movement’s future.

Elite-cattle breeders are using a procedure called embryo transfer to reproducedozens of calves a year from their genetically superior heifers, all via surrogate cows.Credit Sally Ryan for The New York Times

President Obama announced a plan to address the troubling decline in honeybee populations by making seven million acres of federal land more bee-friendly. But environmentalists say that by not addressing the pervasive use of toxic pesticides, the president’s measures don’t go nearly far enough.

The North Carolina legislature overrode a governor veto in order to pass an extremely unpopular “ag-gag” bill that will allow business owners to sue employees who secretly record happenings at work. This is really disappointing.

The Sierra Club and nine other environmental groups are suing the United States in an attempt to prevent Shell from drilling for oil in the Arctic.

TV food commercials may disproportionately stimulate the reward centers of obese teenagers’ brains, making it harder for them to break bad eating habits later on in life.

“Anyone who has been paying attention knows a dispiriting truth: wild fish are being decimated by the world’s increasingly teched-out, 4.7-million-vessel fishing fleet.” A vegan correspondent dives into the world of “ethical harvesters, renegade farmers, and problem-solving scientists” to figure out how to eat fish responsibly.

A smart piece on why Big Food’s recent push to get rid of additives is pure misdirection.
ConAgra Foods will pay $11.2 million for a salmonella outbreak caused by contaminated peanut butter. The guilty plea is the latest in a string of foodborne-illness cases brought by the DOJ against food companies and their executives.

“For many doctors, the answer that diet and supplements might slow this disease was too simple.” A physician explores the medical community’s misguided ignorance of (and hostility to) nutritional therapy.

When Monsanto and McDonald’s start using farm-to-table lingo on their marketing materials, you know the movement’s gotten way out of hand. (“Over 17,500 British & Irish farmers supply our ingredients.” Seriously?)

A pizza shop in Queens, NY, served as ground zero for an international drug-trafficking ring. The husband-and-wife duo running the restaurant reportedly had ties to the Genovese crime family (one of the “Five Families” dominating the New York mafia scene), and creatively hid shipments of cocaine in cargo containers marked “fresh cassava.”

Demand for organic produce in the U.S. is growing so fast, organic poultry and dairy operators are having to import non-GMO corn and soybeans from Romania and Turkey. Could those farmers wedded to Monsanto seeds be feeling remorse?

Roy Choi promises to deliver a burger that is locally sourced, sustainable and delicious — all for 99 cents. How? By eliminating food waste.

Roasted corn soup is served at El Mirador in San Antonio, TX. Tex-Mex aficionados say the cuisine rarely gets the credit it deserves.Credit Stacy Sodolak for The New York Times

Tens of thousands of low-wage workers and activists hit the streets last week in an ongoing nationwide campaign for $15 an hour. While opponents of higher wages say a raise would cost jobs, proponents point to a new study by the Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education that shows low wages cost taxpayers nearly $153 billion a year in government support for the working poor.

In Mexicali, Mexico, Chinese dishes are as integral a part of local cuisine as carnitas and tacos, thanks to a fascinating consequence of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.

“Texas and Mexico — two of the United States’ most-loathed peoples. America doesn’t like mongrels, and that’s exactly what Tex-Mex food is: wonderful, beautiful mongrel meals.” A great illustrated guide to the history of Tex-Mex.

An astounding number of flavors, preservatives and other additives are never tested or evaluated by the FDA before going to market. More troubling is the fact that many of the scientists hired by food companies to test new products — a process that allows companies to avoid a rigorous government safety review — have ties to Big Tobacco.

Michelle Obama wants to combat junk food marketing to kids by using the same visually appealing tricks to advertise fresh produce. It’s a laudable effort but one that’s likely to fail — and not just because food companies can outspend the First Lady 2,000 to 1.

Californians angry at lax government oversight of bottled water companies have started a petition to kick Nestle’s water bottling operations out of the state.

With little advance warning to employees, Walmart fired 2,200 people when it temporarily closed five stores, ostensibly due to severe plumbing issues. The manager of one store said it was the first time she was hearing about the sewer problems, and a worker speculated the closings were related to worker activism for higher pay.

A recent study found that people who bring their own bags to the grocery store are more likely to buy organic goods and junk food.Credit David McNew/Getty Images

Governor Jerry Brown has ordered mandatory water restrictions for the first time in California history, thanks to record-low snowfalls this winter that compounded an already catastrophic drought. “It’s a different world,” Brown said. “We have to act differently.” I’ll have more things to say about this next week.

Due to “misperceptions” about their campaign — which drew national scrutiny thanks to a New York Times story — Kraft Foods and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics have canceled their plan to put “Kids Eat Right” logos on Kraft Singles. That was fast.

“I want to go home. We all do. Our parents haven’t heard from us for a long time, I’m sure they think we are dead.” An investigation by the Associated Press discovered that some of America’s seafood comes from Burmese slaves. (Update: Thanks to the investigation, Indonesian government officials visited the island where the men were being kept and helped rescue more than 300 people.)

A selection of dishes prepared at Chutney Masala in Irvington, NY.Credit Richard Harbus for The New York Times

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is rolling out a new nutrition seal, “Kids Eat Right,” for select foods. However, it’s unclear what exactly the label implies, since the first food to display the seal is Kraft Singles, a product whose connection to real cheese is so dubious that the FDA ordered the company to stop calling it “cheese food” in 2002. Bizarrely, the academy insists the seal is not an endorsement but just an advertisement for its Kids Eat Right educational website. No wonder parents think sugary drinks are healthy.

Hospitals are supporting community gardens and increasing access to affordable, healthy food thanks to Obamacare.

French authorities fined 11 yogurt makers $204 million for colluding in a six-year price-fixing cartel, complete with secret phone lines and clandestine meetings at the popular café Au Chien qui Fume. To avoid getting fined, Yoplait turned double agent and ratted the group out.

Government efforts to eradicate tooth decay in the 1960s were heavily influenced by the sugar industry, which persuaded researchers to develop vaccines for cavities rather than just telling people to eat less sugar.

Disappointingly, researchers have found that farmers markets in the Bronx — intended to increase local access to fresh fruits and vegetables — charge more than nearby stores and offer a limited variety of produce.

The growth of high-end Indian restaurants in the U.S. has been stunted by the perception among many Americans that Indian food should be cheap, despite its being one of the most labor-intensive cuisines in the world.

“You would think there would be a conflict between supporting ethanol mandates and agricultural subsidies on the one hand and conservative principles on the other, but presidential candidates have been getting away with doing just that in Iowa for decades,” says Francis Thicke, a farmer and a candidate in 2010 for Iowa’s agriculture secretary. “They pop into Iowa and pander to industrial agriculture and then go on to New Hampshire and proclaim, ‘Live free or die.’” In other words, the GOP has a corn problem.

The International Franchise Association, along with the National Restaurant Association (natch), is suing the City of Seattle for raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour, claiming the hike violates the Fourteenth Amendment.

The American breakfast has moved decisively away from cereal, and Kellogg Co. is having a hard time adjusting.Credit Paul Sakuma/Associated Press

“It’s not going to help us. We need the hours.” That was the reaction of many Walmart workers after the retail giant announced it would raise wages for U.S. employees to at least $10 an hour beginning next year. While the increase is no doubt welcome, it’s nowhere close to the $15 an hour workers asked for and doesn’t address an equally big issue: not enough hours in the first place.

Nestlé, the world’s biggest food manufacturer by sales, last week reported its slowest annual sales growth since 2009, citing in part a shift among health-conscious consumers away from Lean Cuisine and other packaged foods.

Some farmers who knowingly employ undocumented immigrants are worried legalization will cause their workers to seek better jobs.

Chocolate is getting a makeover: Nestlé is dropping artificial flavors and colorings from all of its chocolate candy products by the end of the year, and Hershey claims it will soon use only “ingredients you recognize.”

The unequal distribution of farm subsidies has a new face: the handsome leading man on this season of “The Bachelor,” who bills himself as a small-time Iowa farm boy but is actually, in the words of the show’s host, “a fourth-generation land baron,” who has received over $370,000 in farm subsidies since 2001. The vast majority of Iowa subsidy recipients, on the other hand, collect on average less than $1,565 a year.

A 25-cent raise enabled a woman to buy her grandson proper diapers, but that’s about it. In the highly politicized fight over raising the minimum wage, it’s important not to forget what it’s actually like to live on $7.25 an hour.

Six urban school districts that collectively buy more than $552 million of food and supplies each year announced they will no longer buy chickens raised with antibiotics.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack threw water on hopes that the new federal dietary guidelines would take environmental factors into consideration, as was recommended by a panel of independent health and nutrition experts. A petition urging the USDA and Department of Health to keep sustainability on the table can be found here.

“For almost a century, Kellogg defined the American breakfast: a moment when people would be jolted out of their drowsiness—often with a stupendous serving of sugar.” Now, analysts say, the floundering company is ripe for a takeover.

Aristotle called it so in 330 B.C., but it took the rest of us a bit longer to determine that fat is a taste.

Thanks to a decline in packaged food sales at supermarkets, giant food companies are following budget conscious shoppers into dollar stores, though they’re not exactly offering discounts. By shrinking their package sizes, food giants like Kraft – which has annual revenues of more than $18 billion – can make their products look more affordable while actually charging far more per ounce, targeting cash-strapped shoppers who can’t afford to buy bulk.

Citizens of the Italian town of Amatrice – the birthplace of amatriciana – were none too pleased when they heard chef Carlo Cracco confess on national television that his recipe for amatriciana includes garlic. True amatriciana, say town officials, has just six ingredients: pork jowl, pecorino cheese, white wine, San Marzano tomatoes, pepper and chili. I, too, have been yelled at by Italian friends for adding garlic non-traditionally.

In its latest attack on Obama’s higher nutritional requirements for school lunch, the School Nutrition Association has released a paper claiming that the new rules are causing 50 percent of school meal programs to operate at a loss. What they fail to mention is that that number is lower than it was in 2010, a full two years before the new food rules were put into place.

As further evidence nutritious food can make financial sense, bake sales in some school districts are reporting that selling healthier goods – or even replacing bake sales with “activity-a-thons” – is actually bringing in more fundraising dollars than selling cupcakes. Meanwhile, they’re selling Girl Scout cookies on my corner.

We always knew the ocean was filled with plastic, but a new study has come out illuminating just how much – and it’s terrifying: Between 4.8 million and 12.7 million metric tons of plastic are thrown into the ocean each year. At the high end, that’s the same amount of weight as pushing 14 Golden Gate Bridges or 243 Titanic-sized ships into the sea.

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Fishermen prepare to fish amidst floating garbage off the shore of Manila Bay. Scientists estimate that a staggering 4.8 million to 12.7 million tons of plastic pollution enter the oceans each year from the world's 192 coastal countries.Credit Erik De Castro/Reuters

“I knew how many people died trying to cross the border each year, but doing it physically with my own body and my own mind and emotions and psyche was much more intense than I had realized it would be.” Seth Holmes, an MD and University of California anthropologist, migrated from the rural highlands of southern Mexico to the deserts of Arizona with a group of indigenous farmworkers to find work. His book, “Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies,” uses his experience working in the fields and living in labor camps to explore the human cost of our food system.

Republicans are going after food stamps (again), with more than 20 states moving to reinstate time limits on aid that had been waived in the recession. Other states are experimenting with drug testing for public assistance applicants, despite research showing that economically vulnerable people are less likely than the general population to use drugs. Case in point: Tennessee’s recent drug tests caught a grand total of 37 users out of 16,000 welfare applicants. The state, meanwhile, has an overall drug use of 8 percent.

Industrial agriculture dumps more than 200 million pounds of toxic chemicals into U.S. waterways every year, and the cost of cleaning it up and protecting public health is borne by local and state governments. Some officials are starting to push back.

If you find yourself suddenly craving candy conversation hearts tomorrow, you’re not alone. We are 3,777 percent more likely to consume the pale pink and yellow “Be Mine” and “Luv U” candies on Feb. 14 than any other day of the year.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

About

Mark Bittman writes (mostly) about food for the Times Opinion pages, and is The Magazine’s lead food columnist. He is the author of “VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00” and “How To Cook Everything”. His Web site is markbittman.com.